Old fire hall goes to pieces

BARRIE - A piece of Barrie's history is being dismantled room by room.
Built in 1964, Station 1, located on Vespra Street, once housed not only the fire department, but the police department.
"Because it's older, it has some hazardous material, asbestos," said capital projects supervisor Gus Diamantopoulos, who noted asbestos was not only common, but a standard material in those days.
"Once the heavy demolition starts, it should be about a month," he said. "It should be about the second week in February when it's complete."
Designed with fire truck bays that could only be accessed by one set of doors, the fire station didn't meet more modern standards for fire halls, and in 2008, Barrie decided to replace Station 1 with a more modern building nearby on the corner of Dunlop and Eccles streets.
At the time, Barrie staff examined the possibilities of converting the old station to another use, possibly a shelter or under-one-roof hub for social services.
"Unfortunately, some municipal buildings are so specifically built, there's no real-estate value for anybody else. A fire station has bays and sleeping quarters. They're purpose-built and have a life span and when that's over, it's not worth much. It's had its life."
The study found the cost of converting the building, as well as removing the asbestos, to be too expensive, with costs of $4.2 million to bring it up to code.
The building has been empty since the fire services moved to its new home in 2011.
Priestly Demolition won the $180,000 contract, which is expected to wrap up in February.
"Going in with a giant wrecking ball and taking things to the dump is prohibitively expensive. They go in and sort the material because dumping fees are so high. They go in and pick it apart," said Diamantopoulos.